Drake Sisters 05 - Safe Harbor

him. But this—nothing hurt like this. Hannah couldn't take this away—not ever.
    He would wake up with nightmares over this. He'd never get over the image of someone stabbing Hannah, a vicious, determined look on his face. He doubted he'd ever let her get five feet from him again.
    "Why the hell didn't I stop her from going?"

    "Don't, Jonas," Sarah said softly. "Don't even go there. Hannah signed a contract. She made a commitment. Even if she didn't want to go, she would have kept her word."
    "Who's next?" Damon asked. "You have a lot of folders there."
    Jackson reached into the briefcase. "Stay focused, Jonas."
    Jonas felt the briefcase in his hands, knew he'd yanked it out of Jackson's possession.
    "You want me fucking focused?" He threw the case down the aisle and followed it up, kicking hard with his boot, then whirled around to slam his fist into the nearest empty chair.
    Thunder crashed in his ears, his eyes burned, his throat raw. "What the hell is there without her? Tell me that, Jackson. Tell me what the fuck I'm going to do without her.
    Because I don't know." He looked up then, helpless, impotent, lost. "I stood there watching— watching —as that bastard carved her into pieces." He spread his hands.
    "What is it with me and the women I love?" He turned and stormed down the aisle to the back of the plane, leaving the others sitting in stunned silence.
    "Damn it," Jackson said. "He's losing it, Sarah."
    "This is so close to home for him. You know about his life, his mother, right? He can't take it when things are out of his control."
    Damon squeezed her shoulder. "I've always been curious."
    "Very wealthy parents. Left him a fortune and a beautiful estate. They were older when they had him and they always wanted children. He was adored by both of them.
    Father died when he was five, and by the time he was six or seven, his mother was already pretty much confined to bed. He totally took over running their household.
    Did the shopping, paid the bills, read to his mom, just as if he were all grown up. It was crazy."
    She rubbed her temples. "I'm not explaining this very well. After she gave birth, her immune system failed for whatever reason. The doctors said it was a traumatic event and her body reacted, but no one really knows. From that point on she was very frail, but she refused, absolutely refused, to give in to illness. Jonas took on the responsibilities because that's his nature and he loved her—she belonged with him.
    She was his family. Eventually she got cancer. It was horribly painful, but she had a will of iron. It nearly killed him that he couldn't stop her suffering. He came to our house when it just got so bad he couldn't look at her or think about her anymore."
    Damon glanced down the plane toward the bathroom. "Should you talk to him?"
    "What can I say? He knows as well as I do that the chances of saving Hannah are very small. We were there. Watching. Hannah is his family. The love of his life. She's what makes him want to get up in the morning. They belong. He feels completely helpless, and for Jonas, there isn't anything much worse when it comes to someone he loves.
    All of this"—she gestured to the files—"won't matter if she dies."

    She hit her head against the seat. "Why didn't he show these files to me before—when he was so nasty about her going to work. I would have backed him up."
    She handed one to Damon. "Look at this. This is a woman who stalked Hannah for about ten months. A restraining order was issued and the woman went a little crazy and slashed up a collection of clothes Hannah modeled. How she got backstage no one knew, but Hannah wasn't in the building; she'd already left."
    Jonas reappeared, taking the file from her hand and seating himself beside her. "I put her on high priority because she used a knife, was able to penetrate security, and she was recently released from prison. The designer prosecuted and she was incarcerated." Jackson put the file into Jonas's hands. "Her name is Susan Briggs, she's middle-aged, looks normal but is obviously ill."
    "She's definitely not all there and she's capable of extreme violence. She hears voices, probably schizophrenic. Put her in the high probability stack." Sarah tried to keep her voice even when she wanted to throw her arms around him and comfort him. "You should have showed all these to me."
    Jonas looked down at her and Sarah winced. She knew the files existed. Joley probably had more. She hadn't wanted to know